introduce turner construction. he's leading this group on the most amazing american made project. as you look around you will notice there is great structural steel american made. there is great glass, american made. as the mayor mentioned there is tremendous local hire participation. regional participation. this is built by those who will use it and love it forever. we commend all of you for doing that. so please help me welcome kauf dar. >> first let me thank the director to include me in the design project today. and secondly let me take the

opportunity to thank the mayor and his administration and the leadership in the city of san francisco because these are exciting times for design and construction industry. as you can witness as we drive around you see the cranes. it was not too long ago, as you remember, july 17, the topping out of the last steel beam. it's only about 7-and-a-half months later she's all dressed up and ready for the promise at a remarkable speed. this project i believe has achieved new levels of collaboration for the public project. we started construction in about may 1st and 10 months later the project is done. this could not have been done without the collaboration with the port, the d p w and the management

team behind me. i think this project could become a good case study for how fast. the mayor spoke of the numbers in how we are almost 20 percent micro businesses participating in the first phase. over 25 percent of the san francisco residents working object on-the-job and a thousand workers. every worker that comes to the site comes to an orientation. based on those numbers when we start phase two in november, i would imagine we'll have six or 700 jobs created. i want to thank the contractors, the unions, the design team and the leadership for the success of this

project. thank you. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen please can i have a round of applause for all the workers who delivered this in crazy hours, crazy days, working at night. you know how cold it is out here at night? i'm impressed. those fingers work really hard. next it's my honor to introduce the president of the port commission. dorene, charges this under new territory under here guidance and expanding like crazy and doing amazing things and attracting all of your support. please welcome port commission president dorene. >> good afternoon. i have been very blessed to all of the commissioners to be here today

and i'm certainly not alone. when mayor asked me about the port commission and we talked a lot about the challenges and all the issues. i guess i never knew how much reward there is going to be in being on the commission when you see within a short few months you see the realization of dreams and visions of what makes the water front so exciting. i think i have joined in a great period where we are activateing the water area from jefferson street to where we see jack bare from the giants. it's just endless. i can tell i we have long commission meetings but we've all loved the work we are doing. i think we want to thank so many people because certainly without dedication

and perseverance we could not have made this happen and if you think about the enormous collaboration. we would like to thank the mayor, the board of supervisor and mr. chew, the former port commissioner david lee that recommended a public finances project. we know there were several attempts. this is the fourth attempt before this happened. we have a lot of communities involved, the advisory group and the commerce advisory committee has provided a lot of input and in terms of other president of other commissioners, and

unfortunately commissioner adams couldn't be here today,

>> i think this is also, the cruising industry puts over $30 million into the local economy. i think the first thing we are very excite d to be able to go

off with a big bang and as the first user and that couldn't be more than more fire crackers to be the first user and with everybody with all the plans they have and i'm going to allow steven to explain to you what's going to happen to the terminal with the america's cup. steven? >> thank you. congratulations to the city and to the port on this time. the cruise ship terminal really looks fantastic. what i would like to do is thank monique again. she said to me the cruise ship

channel would be ready for us to take it on in march. i have to apologize. i was a little skeptical. i might have said that once or twice. it really is an fantastic effort by the port in the next 12 weeks we are getting it ready for the international media. the public will be involved in the entertainment areas and into a sports bar for the conflict. if you look behind me up there. all of the people that come here, the international media to experience the america's cup in san francisco. it's

absolutely fantastic. as i said, for us this is a start. we've got about 10-12 weeks to get this facility ready. that's what we are doing to get ourselves to the start of the summer here in san francisco. that period starts around the 4th of july and go until about the 20th of september. we are going to experience 50 days of racing up and down the bay. all i want to say in conclusion is we are very proud to be alongside the city and the port. we are thrilled that the america's cup is to help get this facility here to san franciscoance. thank you very much. >> thank you all, turner and everyone for making me look

good. i mentioned at the outset that this is only in a san francisco moment. the one thing i haven't mentioned yet that this is the only facility that is going to tame, diesel, powered engines and wind powered boats for vastly different uses. we couldn't be more proud of that opportunity and we thank you steven barclay for that opportunity to show case how ports can be modernized to show present and past and future. i would also like to recognize some members from the america as cup organizing committee here today. thank them for all they have done to make this a marquis for our city. now we are going to cut the ribbon

here and invite all of you to come upstairs to see for yourselves this perfect picture frame of the i iconic and exciting san francisco from the bay bridge, to the building to the tower and the beautiful housing nestled into telegraph hill. it's one and only in the world and thank you for being part of it. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [ applause ]

all right. every year we come out to celebrate arbor day in the month of march and i'm happy to kickoff this year arbor day here at this special location. joined with us today we have several guest. i know dan is here, larry stringer is here and our colleagues and our partners in arbor day. today like many other days, trees will be dedicated in someone who has contributed to san francisco either through their work or given back to the environment through culture, through arts and through many of the hard work and we will

unveil who will receive this dedication today. as many of you know trees are very important for our communities. they provide us shade, they deter water from going into our storm systems, they provide a place for birds and butterflies and of course they help us clean our air. arbor day is a very important event. it is celebrated not just in america, but all over the world and i'm honored that we are kicking this event. i would like to thank the mayor for bringing arbor day back to san francisco. this is our 8th arbor day. i will welcome mayor lee to the stage. >> thank you the dpw, the

recreation department, to all of those who helped us in working today. arbor day, it is an annual celebration that we have struggled very hard to make sure this city appreciate because the trees are part of a great answer and solution to reducing carbon emissions and be sure we have greenery and beautification for our citizens. a lot of my friends celebrated chinese new years in china and this year for chinese new years, wilhelm wundt wilhelm wundt of the one of the gifts they gave to the employees is an air mask. if

you don't start contributing to its purification, you don't get the kind of air like you do in san francisco. this is why trees are so important to our nature and this is what i love about the city because when it comes to our enviroment, we do make some serious investments, whether it's green buildings, waste management or going into electric vehicles or getting everybody to change their habits, one of the habits that we want to continue having is planting trees. and so every year for the last 8 years, we have select a signatory to plant and we have taken the liberties of honoring people that have contributed to the quality of life for all of us. in past years, people like rosa

parks, caesar chavez, people that we know and are familiar with, along with people that we are not that familiar with but have made some great contributions. today we thought we would take this opportunity to celebrate an icon of san francisco. the brown twin sisters have been with us for many decades. mary is here today, she's here in celebration and memory of her sister as we all are and we want to take this opportunity to use the arbor day to have a cedar tree, a tree that will grow taller than mary or i. it will grow to be a hundred feet tall. it will be a tree that

will be celebrated here in san francisco for generations to come and we thought it would be not only appropriate, but we thought it would be our honor by planting this tree in recognition of vivian and her wonderful contributions to our city. and we are especially blessed with maryann honoring us with her presence. it's not that easy for her to get around these days but she has and continues to be part of an incredible twin sisters. but now she's also missing vivian as much as we are and we felt this would be a proper way to create a celebratory atmosphere on how we miss vivian, how much she meant to us and take this opportunity for arbor day to plant this tree in her name.

how is that, maryann for a great celebration? >> wonderful. i know my sister from heaven is watching. >> all right. she said vivian is up there applauding us and we have a great time of celebrate. ing. with that, supervisor lee, you should know, it's always been under dispute as to who is supposed to be responsible for this piece of land. was it the highway folks, the residents who built their homes here, was it dpw, we are trying to gift it to rec's and park for nothing because it's an incredible responsibility. look at how beautiful this place it. we do keep it up. it does

barrier the intense traffic that we deal with here. i travel quite a bit and everyone i know always glances here and takes a breath of fresh air a midst all of this traffic. this adds beauty and value to this area. i would like to give this proclamation to maryann and have her treasure this and the permanent memory of her sister and how we celebrate people who are part of our culture as the brown sisters have been and also have been on literally every page of our wonderful visitors galleries, they have been in movies, commercials, they have become a part of what

we see in san francisco and how we advertise ourselves around the world as a great place to live and work in. with that, with this proclamation, declares today to be vivian brown tree day in san francisco and also appropriately names this california cedar to be the tree for vivian brown in san francisco. >> beautiful. thank you all for coming. >> all right. like the mayor said, this is a california tree. the tree bark was used for making medicine for people with stomach aches. it's also been used as a wind break and

been used in many many parks. tree comes from the cypress family and the botanical name. i'm happy we are adding such a tree to san francisco and to honor the vivian brown sisters. now like we've done in many of our events, it's always an honor to introduce the supervisor of the district and like he said, we are very familiar with this piece of land. this land has had many trees that act as a buffer to the neighborhood and the neighborhood appreciates it but we are still trying to figure out who is the legal owner of it, but in that process, dpw

and the neighbors always join and the one thing we do know is we need to take care of the trees and we do that with that, i introduce the supervisor norman yee. >> thank you, i'm just one of many san franciscans celebrating this day, arbor okay for vivian brown. i'm so glad that we have an opportunity to have a celebration in this district 7 to be able to celebrate more intensely this great icon of san francisco and i just hope that i get to see the tree when it's a hundred feet tall. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you. also as part of our partnership as many of you know we partner with many of the non-profits i see san francisco beautiful here.

welcome, kristin who is a great partner with us and we also partner with other great cities. i would like to ask mr. -- to come up and talk to us if you would. >> thank you. it's an honor to be here to celebrate arbor day with you. this is an okay to celebrate our trees, in 4,000 open acres of our city we are able to enjoy and benefit from over 140,000 trees and a couple interesting facts on arbor day, there are trees and responsible for the creation and monterey pine and different types of trees which you can find in the

panhandle which was a laboratory to find what best trees can grow and they settled on those three specific trees. what i would like to say and i can thank another partner mohammed a friend of the forest who cares for the city so well. i also want to give a big shout out to the men and women who take care of our trees, the gardeners, laborers. mary, i would like to end, did you read the book about a tree that gives and gives to a person who started out as a young boy and all throughout life he came to visit that tree and took a little bit from that tree until the tree had nothing left to give. i think you and your

sister have given so much to this city and have contributed to its spirit that there is nothing that is more fitting in honoring the two of you than planting a new tree to give and give back to the community. so congratulations and i'm over joyed to be part of this honor. >> san francisco [inaudible] you take care of people and that is wonderful. we have always enjoyed living in san francisco. it's you people, people that make this world. what would this world be with no people. so we love san

francisco. never leave your heart in san francisco. always come and find it here. [ applause ] . >> okay. and also as part of my job being responsible for many trees and i can tell you that this has become one of the harder parts of my job and we have gone out and tried to get people more involved and between the right of way there are about a thousand trees and from the parks about other 120,000 trees. we are working very hard to make sure we preserve that asset. many of our trees have aged and we need to start a process of reforestation and it involves good planning. i will ask the veteran of the department who has the policy group to advise

us on what we should do as the city. melanie. >> thank you. good afternoon, everyone. it is an honor to be here on behalf of the department with all of to you celebrate arbor day. this is a department of the environment, one of our favorite days. what we support is the climate program. we look at what is our carbon inventory and where is our carbon emission come from. we know it comes from the environment and we are working very diligently to mitigate the carbon sectors. we know that many trees is the answer to

reduce the carbon emissions further. in addition it's critical to our adaptation strategy thinking about if we can't ward off, trees will continue to help us with storm waters and they boost property value where they have a robust urban forest. i wanted to mention when i first moved to san francisco, i lived on russian hill, i would sometimes take the cable car and i would often see you and your sister see both of them smiling and the warmth they shared as twins, it brought a smile